The Guardian view on Trump and Xi: a show of friendship, but no real attempt to address the tensions

Xi Jinping's visit to Washington this week, which included a White House meeting with Donald Trump on September 25, produced little movement in the strained US-China relationship. Trump gave Xi a lavish welcome, meeting him at the plane and calling him "strong, vibrant and fit," and declared the two countries had "never gotten along better." Chinese state media had access to the White House while CNN, MS Now and Politico did not. Human rights issues, including the treatment of Uyghurs and the case of jailed Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong, who faces another lengthy sentence, went unmentioned despite protesters gathering outside, according to The Guardian.

On trade, the countries agreed to push back their tariff truce deadline by another two months as Xi arrived, with China's curbs on rare earth exports having cooled Trump's appetite for economic confrontation while Beijing worries about its own slowing economy. Trump told Xi that Chinese assistance to Iran would be unacceptable, while Xi urged Washington to adopt the "correct position" opposing Taiwanese independence, a harder line than its traditional stance of simply not supporting it. Artificial intelligence emerged as another flashpoint: Trump has refused to restrain American development, saying "Whoever wins AI, wins," while Xi called for responsible management even as Beijing objects to what it calls "threat narratives." Among the few concrete results was Beijing's plan to send two pandas, which Xi called envoys of friendship, to Atlanta zoo, continuing a practice dating to 1972.

Summarized by PolitiKool from The Guardian’s reporting. Read the full story at The Guardian →